CONCORD, N.C. -- After recording the 13th-fastest speed in the weekend's opening Sprint Cup practice, Dale Earnhardt Jr. had high hopes for qualifying Thursday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway. That he wound up 39th on the starting grid left him shocked, disappointed, and more than a little discouraged.

"We were top-15 in practice, and we go out and try to qualify and we were one of the worst cars here," Earnhardt said Friday. "We don't know why or have any answers for it. All the other [Hendrick Motorsports] cars qualified fine and did well and backed their times up from practice. And we didn't even get close. We looked ridiculous last night. It's like really encouraging one day, and the next day equally discouraging. That gets really old. I'm about to the end of my rope on it."

“

The most success I had was with Tony [Eury] Sr., and you know how he runs his ship.

”

-- DALE EARNHARDT JR.

Earnhardt's long, lost season is nearing its end, and the despondency is beginning to show. NASCAR's most popular driver, currently 22nd in points and without a race win since June of 2008, says he still enjoys being at the race track. But the frustration over running poorly is clearly wearing on him. That was never more evident than Friday, when Earnhardt spoke with reporters after an activity involving Hellman's, a sponsor of his Nationwide team.

"I've been riding it out. There comes a point though when you don't want to ride it out anymore," he said. "You just have had enough, you know? It's been a long year. I really don't want the year to be over with, because I like going to the race track every week and racing. But the last several ... well, all year, it's been so ... low. The highs have been not very high and the lows have been terribly low. It's hard to want to get back up and try again the next week when you take such a beating. But I don't know what else to do."

What's the next step? Not even Earnhardt seems to know. "I really don't know what the logical next step would be," he said, "because we seem to be getting better, but even getting better is not satisfying me at all."

It's all a stark contrast to the way Earnhardt sounded two weeks ago, when he was almost hopeful after a second-place qualifying run at Kansas Speedway. Of course, his usual bad luck intervened -- a loose lug nut and then a snapped oil pump belt ruined his day. But before that, he could see a little bit of progress, and he seemed to support the idea of interim crew chief Lance McGrew coming back for a full season in 2010. Hendrick executives will reportedly meet to discuss that issue after the Charlotte race weekend.

As for Earnhardt? He said Friday that he hasn't spoken with team owner Rick Hendrick on the issue, and he's going to let someone else make the decision.

"I don't have the credentials to make the call. If I told you that I wanted to be with Lance next year, I wouldn't be telling you that out of my knowledge of expertise and talent. I'd be telling you because, well, it's fun hanging out with him. Whoever I work with needs to be a dictator. The most success I had was with Tony [Eury] Sr., and you know how he runs his ship."

The no-nonsense Eury, Earnhardt's crew chief for most of his tenure at Dale Earnhardt Inc., is currently the crew chief for Brad Keselowski's Nationwide Series car at JR Motorsports. He was also the man on the box for 16 of Earnhardt's 18 career victories on the Sprint Cup circuit. Earnhardt said he doubts Eury would want to return to the pressure-cooker that is NASCAR's premier series. So where does that leave the No. 88 car? Earnhardt will wait and see.

"There are a lot of smart people around here," he said, referring to his Hendrick team. "I'm just wanting on somebody to make the call. Put the damn team together and say, 'This is what you've got, and this is what you're going to do next year.' I'm just kind of waiting on that to happen."